


Sugarloaf

by cofax



Series: This is Not Wartime [2]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: AU, Apocafic, Gen, This is Not Wartime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-09
Updated: 2010-03-09
Packaged: 2017-10-07 19:59:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/68719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cofax/pseuds/cofax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just because the world ended doesn't mean you get to rest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sugarloaf

The leaves are thick on the ground, red gold brown hiding stones and   
roots, traps for the unwary. Jack approves: they also hide the trail   
from the Jaffa, who haven't adjusted to these eastern forests, thick   
with deciduous vegetation. Pine trees are common, but in nothing like   
their profusion on so many Goa'uld-settled worlds. He always wondered   
why the snakes loved pine trees so much. If he'd asked her, Carter   
would have had an explanation, or at least a guess.

Now? He glances down the trail and sees only her grey cap behind the   
granite boulder she's chosen as cover. From here he can't see the   
dull weight in her eyes or the stained jacket she's worn for the last   
six weeks. If he were to ask her about the trees, he doubts she'd   
answer. She still talks now, but the geek is gone: she's all soldier.

He doesn't have the luxury to be sorry for that: she is a very good   
soldier.

Carter flashes a hand signal, and Kandinsky comes over the rise,   
moving at a steady jog, followed by Teal'c, then Benson, then Kal.   
Jack's eyes narrow as he realizes there won't be any more, and   
Benson's favoring her left arm. Teal'c pauses when he reaches Jack,   
but the rest keep on past, heading up and over the notch. By midnight   
they'll be deep in the woods.

"Well?" Jack keeps his eyes on the trail.

Teal'c drops to a crouch, body close enough Jack can smell him   
sweating, and the lingering odor of cordite. "The mission was a   
partial success. We infiltrated and destroyed the ammunition depot,   
but Whitehead fell behind on our escape. We must assume he is taken."

Shit. They'll have to move again. "Carter!" he hisses. "Gotta go!" He   
covers her as she heads up the trail, weapon solid in her hands. She   
nods at him as she passes, and now he's the rearguard, peering   
eastward through the trees as the daylight dims. The wind shifts,   
carrying the smell of burning cities to them.

"Go," he says to Teal'c, and waits for a count of one hundred.

One soldier down, one depot destroyed. This war started six weeks   
ago, or six years ago, or six thousand, depending on who you ask;   
he's lost a little more every day, and the snakes keep coming. Jack   
spits to the side, his eyes on the orange light reflected off the   
cloud cover, before shouldering his own gun and heading up the hill   
after his team.

END


End file.
